#Because they’re both social awkward nerds who freak out at ANY emotional connection they do not understand

[star--nymph]

It’s so important to me that the basis of Eurydice’s and Dorian’s relationship, the core of it, is that they recognized each as abuse children. Eurydice not understanding Dorian’s speech or coping mechanisms until she met his father in the tavern and knew intimately—though maybe not consciously—what this was because she had known it. She knew a father that did not love his child as they were, did not understand them, did not want them, violently tried to change them to fit his preferred mold. That all he wanted was an object, no a son. And she marveled at Dorian’s ability to acknowledge it and refuse to play into any longer.

Brave. When Eurydice meant Dorian was brave, she meant in a specific way and he knew it. That’s why he paused—because Dorian is smart and perceive in a way she isn’t and he doesn’t need that many clues to know how they were bonded.

and yet for all that Eurydice curled around him like a protective older sibling, offered him the elven name of ‘brother’ and stood vigilant over him.

and later that night when they were drunk and Eurydice spoke the things her father had done to her and then begging Dorian not to say it, not to make it real because she would not—could not— hear that her father did not love her (that she wasn’t ready), he let her have it.

But he kept that secret and watched her, waiting until she was ready—when it was her turn to be break apart and be brave.

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 109: Last One Out of Beach City

“What if I told you that the world was gonna end, and you had fifteen minutes to spend with me or your friends?”

Steven and the Stevens and Hit the Diamond are my two favorite episodes of Steven Universe for reasons I’ve written about at length, but beyond encapsulating the essence of the series and characters and all that, it should be noted that they’re just plain fun. Last One Out of Beach City is smaller in scale, zeroing in on one of the show’s earliest defined relationships and basking in its evolution from a feud to a deep friendship, so it’s harder to use as a stand-in for the show as a whole. But even if it isn’t my third-favorite episode of the series, it stands hand in hand with my top two when it comes to the charm factor.

Last One Out of Beach City is a delight from start to finish. Jesse Zuke’s legendary “Bad Pearl” sketch comes to life in the best way imaginable, and Deedee Magno Hall solidifies her place as my MVP of a killer lineup of voice actors. Actual human being Mike Krol gets tossed into this alternate universe like it was nothing. Crimes are committed. Swears are censored by screeching tires. Juice is spat. Cups, spilt.

This is the promise of Zuke’n’Florido’s brilliant opening sequence of Beta fulfilled: Steven and some Gems hanging out not for half an episode, but an entire one. It’s got sight gags aplenty, supplementing some of the best comedy writing in the series, mixed with the soul-warming joy of watching characters we love getting along. So lest I just turn this review into gushing about individual jokes and lines and moments, let’s dive into why each character we see is terrific, starting with the scofflaw herself.

Last One Out of Beach City does for Pearl what Back to the Moon does for Amethyst and Mindful Education does for Garnet: we see the result of her character growth in Act II, and even if the Mystery Girl looks a lot like Rose, it’s still a huge step forward for our lady of perpetual mourning to develop a crush on someone new (and to be so low-key polite to Greg). The romantic subplot alone could drive an episode, but Pearl gets so many more hats than “girl with a crush” here: she’s a nerd, a badass, a criminal, and a middle-aged mom all at once. She vacillates between genuinely cool and desperately uncool until she fuses these extremes together to become a confident square; it’s perhaps Deedee Magno Hall’s best Pearlformance that doesn’t include singing, and that’s saying a lot. Between her voice acting, the lines themselves (“This is why we buckle up”), and the sheer sense of catharsis from seeing her choosing to move forward with her life, this is my favorite Pearl episode. And that’s saying a lot.

Pearl has always had a weird relationship with humanity. She's distant from modern culture compared to Amethyst, and her misunderstandings about human stuff is often played for laughs, but she’s also a crack car mechanic and is enamored with human concepts like knighthood. She’s not completely removed from society, but chooses not to engage unless something in particular catches her fancy. So it’s fascinating to see her associating moving forward with performing more human activities; she’s embracing Earth as it is, not as it was when the Gem War was raging, and she’s not letting lingering envy from Rose’s love of humans like Greg get in her way.

The reason this works so well is that it’s clearly performative, rather than an actual sudden personality shift. She’s still a homebody who likes puzzles and hanging out with her kid. She’s still snooty, both with her friends (dismissing the idea that anyone could be nostalgic for something as “new” as suburbs) and with her crush (“By the way, I saved your planet and your species and you're welcome”). And she’s still nervous as all get-out, but brave enough to push forward anyway.

Pearl’s maternal nature isn’t ignored, but used as fuel for her attempt at rebirth. There’s a huge difference between an awkward person putting themselves out there for the first time and a semi-retired hellraiser who, after settling into a comfortable groove, seeks to relive her glory days. She’s been dwelling on the negative for so long that she feels out of touch with her adventurous side, to the point where wearing pants and drinking juice is adventurous, but because we know Pearl so well by now we can actually appreciate how big of a deal these minor accomplishments are for her.

While it’s refreshing to see Pearl moving on from Rose, it’s perhaps even greater to see how far her relationship with Amethyst has come. While their longstanding rivalry softened during the Week of Sardonyx, we haven’t gotten them alone together since, and it just feels so nice to see Amethyst ribbing Pearl with that extra burst of sisterly affection, and Pearl loosening up enough to not take every slight personally.

As with Pearl, Amethyst works here because her personality hasn’t been erased; again, she’s still ragging on Pearl. The plot gets rolling because of Amethyst’s well-established fascination with humanity, and Pearl’s decision to see the show is prompted in part by wanting to impress Amethyst, something she never would’ve cared about in Season 1. And for all her teasing, Amethyst encourages Pearl every step of the way, not just out of solidarity but because she’s legitimately impressed.

And in a world where Pearl and Amethyst are egging each other on, Steven has to step up and be practical. I appreciate that his sense of responsibility and realism doesn’t make him a jerk or a brat, but more of a peer than ever among his fellow Crystal Gems. When pointing out the pink-haired elephant in the room, he’s not condemning or teasing Pearl: he’s just clearing the tension, and showing that he’s more aware of the situation than a younger Steven might have been. In this episode, Steven is the friend who looks for a gas station when his buds are freaking out about running out of fuel.

By now Steven feels comfortable with his place in the team, and with his relationships with Amethyst and Pearl as individuals. A version of this episode placed earlier in the series might’ve been about Pearl and Amethyst fighting for his attention, or Steven vying for attention from either of them, but by now he’s happy to do a puzzle with Pearl and to go to a concert with Amethyst, and there’s zero conflict. Immaturity shouldn’t be a go-to character beat anymore, and I love that Steven is acting his age.

Mystery Girl turns out to be more of a device than a character, as we never see her again. But I honestly think that’s fine; what matters is that Pearl is willing to put herself out there, and the result isn’t a new relationship with a new love interest but a new relationship with humanity. The Pearl of Bismuth Casual, hanging out with a posse of human friends and showing off her Gem powers with glee, owes everything to the Pearl of Last One Out of Beach City, and thus everything to Mystery Girl. Perhaps they had a thing at some point. Perhaps they still do have a thing. We don’t know, because Pearl has new hobbies outside of being a Crystal Gem, and that’s the victory.

An in terms of the show’s greater plot, if our new friend never gave Pearl her number, Pearl never would’ve gotten a phone, so A Single Pale Rose never would’ve happened. Perhaps one day he would’ve learned the truth, but certainly not before Yellow and Blue Diamond arrived to wage war on the planet. So thanks for saving the world, Mystery Girl!

The use of music from our universe lends Last One Out of Beach City a uniquely realistic tone compared to the rest of the series; perhaps any such music would do the trick, but a garage rocker is an apt choice for setting a grounded mood. We get a glimpse of Greg’s life outside of being a dad, as he socializes not only with Amethyst but Barb and Vidalia. The car chase lurches to reality when we learn that Pearl doesn’t have a driver’s license, and explicit references are made to the DMV and Pearl’s citizenship. It’s like knowing Steven’s exact age, or having Greg break his leg in Ocean Gem instead of getting a nondescript injury, or hearing Dr. Maheswaran describe PTSD using terms like “cortisol”: these concrete details make these characters feel more like real people. And considering this is a character-centric episode in a show where characters are pretty much always at the center anyway, that realism gives us a deeper connection to what our heroes are going through.

Pearl is by no means a teenager, and the critical element of reclaiming her mojo muddles direct comparisons to a teen protagonist, but the emotional honesty of Last One Out of Beach City makes me feel nostalgic, and not just for the suburbs. Driving around, not quite following the rules, and bouts of chasing meaning when you’re not as interested in traditional adolescent social activities? Those were my teenage years. I don’t always miss them, but this episode brings out the best of my memories.

There’s really not much else to say. I could spend another few paragraphs incoherently gushing about the writing and the animation and the voice work, but I promise the time you’d spend reading that would be better spent rewatching the episode. While I maintain my comparison to Beta, Last One Out of Beach City does stand in opposition to Peridot’s first Meep Morp: it has no functional purpose, it just makes me feel good.

Future Vision!

I already brought up how Mystery Girl’s number prompts A Single Pale Rose, but that episode itself shows that Pearl’s a lot slicker than she thought she was. That’s a lot of codes!

I’ve never been to this…how do you say…school?

Not sure why we get a Halloween-themed promo for an episode that has nothing to do with Halloween and aired in early September, but this is me not complaining about that. (Apparently it’s actually a reference to a Japanese tradition but I don’t watch enough anime to know more about that.)

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

It’s not my third favorite, but this episode is really high up there. The cream of the crop are episodes that give me the purest emotional reactions: Mirror Gem nails dread, Lion 3 and Alone Together embody two different kinds of wonder, and Steven and the Stevens, Hit the Diamond, and Last One Out of Beach City just make me unspeakably happy.

Top Twenty

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

When It Rains

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

No Thanks!

     5. Horror Club      4. Fusion Cuisine      3. House Guest      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

[eregyrn-falls]

I remember this old post about if Ford's hands are normal and if Stan was the polydactyl. How does the elder Pines twins personalities change if that was the case? Is Stan more violent or shyer? Is Ford more protective of his twin. Does he develop an interest in the supernatural?

Oh gosh, this is such an interesting set of questions!  Apologies for the late reply on this, Anon, I didn’t mean to seem like I was ignoring it; I was giving this some time to percolate in my head.

I haven’t actually run across any posts before that discussed in depth the idea of Stan being the one who was polydactyl, instead of Ford!  (The main post I can think of that I saw mentioning it was this one here, and I don’t recall seeing follow-up discussions?)

I guess the first question is just: how much of Stan’s and Ford’s personalities are innate, and how much were influenced by their circumstances (in which I’m including the polydactyly as a circumstance). There’s reams of other meta out there about the natures of both elder Pines twins, and some of the assumptions in some of that meta, as well as just the “general consensus” popular in the fandom, undoubtedly influences how I think of them.

For example: I’m firmly in the camp that thinks that both Stan and Ford are very smart; but, I think that they process information and express their intelligence in different ways.  Ford seems to have a natural affinity for “book-learning”, by which I mean traditional schooling and research. The way Stan is portrayed as a child makes me think that he isn’t so great with traditional learning, and that’s what led to him being an under-achiever, because in the late 50s and early 60s, schools were not as good at identifying when a child was falling behind or acting out because they needed a different learning style to thrive.  I’ve always though of Stan as a more “kinetic” learner, good with physical tasks and also better at learning by demonstration than by lecture/reading.

(The usual sidenote applies here: if this is true of Stan, then it makes his teaching himself to get the Portal working again that much more impressive.  Just because he might be more comfortable with non-book-learning doesn’t mean he can’t learn from so-called traditional sources.  It just means that it’s a different kind of challenge for him than for someone who meshes very well with that form of learning.  Both Stan and Ford are very stubborn and tenacious.  In my view, Stan slacked off as a child, and cheated in school, because he was rebelling against school not giving him what he needed; and, I feel, because it was a vicious cycle in which he was being told by parents and school authority figures that he wasn’t good at it, and he internalized that and stopped trying.  When it came to fixing the Portal, he put aside doubts and preferences and single-mindedly devoted himself to that goal.)

In ATOTS, we’re told that it’s Ford’s polydactyly that creates his interest in science fiction and anomalies.  And yes, that’s an easy answer, but… I’m not sure that necessarily has to be completely true.  You don’t need to have an unusual trait like that, to be a very smart little kid who becomes deeply invested in scifi/fantasy and all of that stuff.  I do think that his unusual trait created for him an additional feeling of connection to those subjects, and I do think that he used that connection as an additional means to cope with the anxiety that his unusual status, and the teasing he received because of it, created.

So, if Stan is the one who’s polydactyl – well, I don’t think that changes the fact that as a little kid in the 50s/60s, he wasn’t as well suited to the style of schooling he was forced into.  He’d still have those unaddressed learning problems in school, and that would probably still have caused him to receive negative feedback from his parents and teachers.  It’s just that little polydactyl Stan would have the additional problem of being regarded as a “freak” by classmates (and maybe by adults too), as well as regarded as “lazy”, and a “cheater”, and a “class clown” (which seems probable; we’re not told specifically that he was, but, it seems pretty likely given everything about Stan’s personality, and the principal does refer to him as a clown).

On the flip side, little Ford may be “normal”, but he’s still abnormally smart, and his excelling at traditional schooling wouldn’t have changed.  And as many people know, that alone can become a cause for being ostracized and bullied by classmates.  He may still have developed an interest in scifi/fantasy and the supernatural, as a sort of intellectual/emotional “escape”.

But, the further thing I think might happen is that little Stan may also develop more of an interest in that direction (maybe with Ford’s encouragement?).  In ATOTS, when they were little, we saw monster-movie posters and that monster mask around Stan’s bed; and even into adulthood we find that he’s interested in things like taxidermy and stop-motion animation and stuff.  Might little polydactyl Stan have gotten into that even more, if he (like Ford in canon) felt like he “belonged” among the “freaks” and side-show attractions?

Going back to similarities and differences between the two of them – Stan is obviously the more outgoing of the two, the one with the “big personality”. And he does seem like the more aggressive of them – but, they’re actually closer in that regard than it seems at first glance.  There are plenty of moments in the show where we see that Ford has a temper and becomes aggressive towards threats.  Both Pines men have a tendency to turn fear into anger (think of Stan yelling at the kids when he’s fighting the zombies; think of Ford threatening Probabilator when he’s tied up).  Stan still seems to be the more extroverted of the two, and Ford the more socially awkward.  But Ford’s aggression likely isn’t a completely learned behavior (i.e. a survival mechanism only learned while dimension-hopping). It’s probably just a Pines trait that he had all along, but as a small child wasn’t confident enough to rely on.

So I do feel a bit like little polydactyl Stan might not have needed quite as much standing-up-for as little Ford did.  Even from an early age, Stan seems to instinctively turn attacks back on his attackers.  Crampelter calls them losers, and Stan’s response is basically to say, “takes one to know one”.  Little Ford’s response to bullying was to let it get to him; Stan’s is to turn it around and throw it back in the bully’s face.  What I can easily imagine is little Stan doing just that to anyone who teased him for having six fingers – turning it into a joke, or just a belligerant “yeah? what’s it to ya?” I don’t think he would have been unaffected, deep down – just as, in canon, he clearly was affected by all the people who called him a loser and said he’d never amount to anything.  That got to him, even though he tried to cover it with bluster and over the top confidence.  

Little Ford is harder for me to figure out, just because I’m not quite sure why he was so passive as a little kid, since he would develop that Pines pugnaciousness once he got to adulthood.  He took all that bullying really hard, it’s clear; and he needed a lot more support and reassurance than little Stan seemed to.  Or is that the point?  Did little Stan (in canon) also really need that stuff, but he just covered up the need with bluster, while little Ford didn’t?  Meanwhile, in this AU – if little Ford isn’t being bullied for being a “freak”, and is “only” being bullied for being the typical too-smart little kid, does that result in his being a little bit more outgoing and willing to stand up for Stan?

I could go either way on that.  I’m having a hard time seeing little Ford playing the belligerant, “get lost, bullies!” role in defense of his brother; just as I’m having a hard time seeing little polydactyl Stan NOT standing up for himself (even if it does hurt deep down).  I could see a little bit of both, perhaps?  But I do see little Ford trying to be supportive of his brother.  And if little Ford is still a scifi nerd – and especially if that’s an interest his brother shares a bit more – then I could still see him being interested in the anomalous, as a way to keep trying to prove to his brother that being an anomaly makes Stan cool and special, rather than “a freak”.

At least, that’s a dynamic I’d like to *think* would happen.

Let me insert a sidenote here about the boxing lessons.  In canon, Filbrick signs both boys up for boxing lessons, after little Stan is shown being picked-on by the older bullies.  There’s an implication that the boxing lessons gave little Stan confidence, and caused him to blossom from a nerdy, dorky-looking teen, into one who gets the girl.   Meanwhile, Ford is hiding his face in a book rather than paying attention to practice.  While adult Ford appears capable of handling himself, the boxing lessons don’t seem to have given little Ford as much confidence.  One thing that interests me about that, going back up to a point I made above, is that if Stan is a “kinetic” learner, that might explain why the boxing lessons worked better for him.  So this too may not change if Stan is polydactyl.  I don’t see any reason why being polydactyl would have a negative effect on learning to box. (I don’t think that’s why Ford didn’t take to it as well.) Plus – when you’re boxing, if your hands are in gloves, nobody can see that you’re polydactyl?  It sort of evens the playing field, as it were.

(This leaves completely aside the slight timeline difficulties of that sequence, as well as the question of whether some of the details were Stan, telling the story to Soos in his memories, deliberately conflating details of Ford’s and his childhood experiences.  Tiny glasses-Stan being bullied in Dreamscapers could be true; and little non-glasses Stan standing up to bullies in ATOTS could be post-boxing-lessons, having gained in confidence.  The part that bugs me is why he would then go from more-confident little non-glasses Stan, to nerdy/dorky glasses-wearing teen Stan at the movies, punching Carla’s attacker.  But, ehn.  For purposes of this discussion, let’s just go with the broad strokes of what that sequence conveys.)

So, where does that lead both of their lives, though?

Does polydactyl Stan come to rely even more on his brother as his only friend, the person who makes him feel like his unusual hands aren’t just no big deal, but are in fact special?  Does that just make Stan even more reluctant to see Ford go away to college?  Unfortunately, I could see that happening.  I’m not sure that reversing the circumstances does anything to address the problems that led to their falling out – the lack of good communication that arose as they became teenagers, or Stan’s dreams of leaving everything behind to pursue a dream career.  

Plus, I don’t know that it affects another innate quality that Stan seems to have – like his mother, for some reason, Stan is drawn to performance and to conning people.  He has a talent for it (at least, he does some of the time, since we have to remember all the sales pitches and cons he failed to pull off).  In that context, the polydactyly is both a curse and a blessing.  A curse, because it makes it less easy for Stan to blend in and become anonymous; he’s always going to attract SOME attention, and he has a trait that he can’t easily hide, the way he can grow out or cut his hair, or grow a mustache.  But a blessing, if he took it that way, because used correctly it could make for a great distraction, as well as a great prop in certain kinds of cons.  

Meahwhile – with the connection to anomalies being through his twin, rather than through himself, does Ford still become as motivated to pursue that study as a life’s work?  In particular, what happens to that interest if/when he and Stan have a falling out?  Would Ford still continue to pursue that line of study when it would be a constant reminder of his twin? Or, bitter at what he thinks of as Stan’s betrayal and untrustworthiness, does he also bitterly reject the subject he once loved, and once wanted to pursue out of love for his twin?  Does he wind up going into some other field, like quantum mechanics or engineering?  

I guess I’d conclude that whether their lives go off on substantially different paths, or not, comes down to many different decision points, not just that one difference.  Ford could wind up on a path that never takes him to Gravity Falls or brings him into contact with Bill.  Or, you could still find a way for that to happen, even if some of the details proceeded differently.  Stan might have somehow used that extra motivation / sense of identification with the weird to propel him into a still shady but viable career path earlier (inspired by his mother’s similar career; that is, himself starting something like the Mystery Shack elsewhere, and earlier, a kind of carnival barker / P.T. Barnum showman). …Or, Stan might have been just that little bit even more dependent on Ford for a feeling of validation, and still messed up, resulting in a rift between the two.

Personally, I think that changing a detail like that becomes more interesting if the results are markedly different from canon.  But basically, I’d be happy to read it, either way.  :)

[mandibierly]

Why social media is the biggest issue teen TV should tackle

Katherine Langford as Hannah Baker in 13 Reasons Why. (Photo: Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection)

Andi Mack creator Terri Minsky doesn’t feel it’s her place to tell any other showrunner what they should be doing on their series, but she does understand why Yahoo Entertainment reached out to television producers to ask which issue they’d like to see more shows address for teen and family audiences.

“TV shows are a message, a warning, from one generation to the next, about how not to do things,” Minsky says. “My generation thought high school was supposed to be the best four years of your life, so obviously there was something wrong with you if they turned out to be the most miserable. Kids who hated high school grew up to write Freaks and Geeks, and Daria, and Glee, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so the next generation came prepared, fully informed on what an emotional and psychological cesspool high school really was. Now, TV writers are trying to clear the forest of homophobia, xenophobia, racism, violence, rape, addictions… There’s a lot to do, and unfortunately, right now, this list grows longer by the day, sometimes by the hour.”

In this age of Peak TV, many producers echo the words of The Fosters showrunner Peter Paige: “I think we have an incredible opportunity at this moment in time, with the breadth of programming going on, to explore all the issues that teenagers today wrestle with — sex, drugs, the internet, social media, guns — without talking down to them.” The Vampire Diaries‘ Julie Plec lists a broad array: “Just like the rainbow coalition of normal human issues, whether it be depression and therapy, sexuality, gender dynamics, race dynamics.” 13 Reasons Why‘s Brian Yorkey gives more of a mission statement: “I would love to see more shows that speak honestly and personally and unflinchingly to some of the difficult things teens face on a daily basis, and not in a way necessarily that seeks to educate adults, but in a way that seeks to honor the experience of teenagers and to let them know that — as much as they may be feeling they’re the only kid going through it — they’re really not alone.”

But as we sorted the responses to our “Why Teen TV Matters” showrunner survey, we noticed one recurring theme:

Social Media

The Middle‘s Eileen Heisler cuts right to the chase: “I think the issue of social media is one that has impacted today’s teens in ways we don’t even fully understand yet. I think the effects of social media usage on teens is a current health crisis and something television should address.”

Heather Wordham, creator of Netflix’s Alexa & Katie, recalls something she heard recently explaining the pathology: “The point that was made that really stuck with me was that before social media, any teenager who felt bullied or like they weren’t enough at school always had a reprieve from that when they went home at the end of the day and could get away from some of those feelings of inadequacy. But with social media, that influence is now 24 hours a day. Anytime a kid checks out their social media, no matter what time it is or where they are, they risk facing those challenges and feelings.”

This is a particularly timely discussion for Pretty Little Liars creator I. Marlene King, who, by the way, doesn’t limit the damage being done to just teenagers adding to the conversation: “Young people and adults have forgotten that words matter. They can inspire but they can also inflict deep and impactful wounds. When you hate anonymously on social media, your words still land hard and cause pain. Social media bullying is an epidemic in this country and we need to address it in our storylines. We need to show the bullies how it feels to be bullied. And we need to show kids who are being bullied solutions and ways to rise above the hate. I’d also like to see more storylines exploring the stress of needing to be popular on social media. It’s adding another layer to what success looks like to young people, and their need to be perfect at everything. We’re exploring these issues in our new show, Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists.”

Awkward creator Lauren Iungerich (whose next series is Netflix’s On My Block) might have a suggestion: focusing on “self-compassion over self-esteem.”

“Self-esteem suggests that in order to win someone has to lose. And when you promote self-compassion, you are telling people to find a connection even in failure. That there are lessons to be learned when you don’t win. That when you don’t win, you actually connect with everyone else who is also not winning. And in that common connection, you find community,” she says. “I feel like our society is driven by so much self-importance that community has been lost. Being part of a fully-realized, supportive, and inclusive community is where we really flourish as a society. And I wish more shows would promote that idea.”

Buffy creator Joss Whedon would watch them: “The stories I’m looking for are about the kids who aren’t beautiful, sculpted, sexy leaders and stars,” he says. “I’m always interested in the people who get ignored and get by anyway. (And look like they’re still in high school.)”

So, too, would Dan Perrault (Netflix’s American Vandal), who wants to see the labels that divide us disappear: “I think it’s getting a lot better, but in general I’d like to see less stereotyping and categorizing of teens. It seems like in real life we’re moving away from the idea of jocks, nerds, cool kids, and losers. We don’t all fit in a box, so I hope teen TV reflects that.”

Embracing our differences would help bring back what One Day at a Time co-showrunner Mike Royce believes is missing: “Portraying empathy is so important. For identity, representation, privilege… any storyline that can convey an understanding of people who are not necessarily exactly like you. Their problems, their struggles,” he says. “The kicker is, it’s all relatable no matter who you are. But empathy is becoming a lost feeling and we need to be finding it.”

There is hope

Funnily enough, the most optimistic outlook on the issues facing this generation may come from the co-creator of Netflix’s Everything Sucks! , Michael Mohan. “One of the most rewarding aspects of making this show was being able to hang out with these teenagers outside of filming. And it was so illuminating because I feel like so many articles about this current generation of teenagers take a pessimistic stance. You read about teenagers being addicted to technology — personally, I think teenagers today have a much healthier relationship with their phones than most of my adult friends have. Our cast wasn’t glued to their phones at all whatsoever,” he says. “You read about them being emotionally distant — but I actually think they’re more in touch with their own vulnerability than prior generations. And I think they feel far more empowered than anyone is giving them credit for. So while our show is set in the “olden days” of the 1990s (the same distance from when The Wonder Years took place and when it aired), I would love to see a straight-up honest, vampire-free story about what it’s like in high school right now, so that teenagers can see themselves represented onscreen accurately, and so that adults have a window into how amazing this generation actually is.”

Peyton Kennedy and Jahi Di’Allo Winston in Everything Sucks! (Photo: Scott Patrick Green/Netflix)

Katie Elmore Mota, executive producer of Hulu’s East Los High, has her own list of priorities — safety, equal access to education, issues around sex and relationships — but she, too, thinks what is most important is listening to the teens you are writing about. “We need to ask them what matters most to them, and what stories or characters would they like to see on television that they maybe haven’t seen yet, what is on their minds. We did this with every season of East Los High and we always learned so much. I think it really helped us ground the show and keep it relevant,” she says. “And overall, I think one of the most important things in life is to feel seen and heard. I hope that more and more teens feel that they are seeing themselves in mainstream media, that they see representations of themselves that they can relate to and that they feel that their stories matter. And to validate their feelings and challenges, and remind teens that every day is a new day, so never lose hope or give up. My mom always said ‘this too shall pass,’ and that’s true for both the highs and the lows in life.”

That kind of communication is what One Day at Time co-showrunner Gloria Calderon Kellett hopes to see more of: “I think parents start to get afraid of their kids and don’t know what to say to them. And on our show, we try to show that it’s hard and awkward and you don’t always say that perfect, elegant thing. But it’s the doing that is important,” she says. “Penelope always goes right in there and talks to her kids. I think it’s good for both parents and kids to see that.”

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